Graybeard

“Wise Old Man”
Painting by Andrew Judd
From bikesandbuddies.com

smashing cars
hustling pool
petty crimes
chasing tail
through the
horsepower traffic
of hormones
and hoodlums
I swear I don’t
understand how
those guys
made it to
twenty alive

but they did
at least most
of them did
served their country
had families
ran businesses
my generation
of grandfathers

needless to say
as for me
in my salad days
I was an angel
till now in my
graybeard years
wrinkled and
rankled and wild
making up
for lost time
raising hell